Fate Will Bring Us Together Again
by TheKissingHand
Summary: Will Aino Minako carry on the story of Venus and keep the promise she made during Silver Millennium? Slightly AU


**_Aino Minako is one of my favorite characters. After writing a few HaruMichi stories, I wanted to write something for Minako. So I put together some random ideas I came up with on a Saturday afternoon into a short story._**

 ** _(I haven't decided if I want to turn it into a longer story, but for now it's a one-shot.)_**

 ** _Clarification: Slightly AU. Minako is not Sailor Venus in the modern era._**

 ** _Cover Image: Drawn and updated to Kunzite on 2018-05-14_**

* * *

 **Silver Millennium**

Guardian Venus brandished the Sword of the Silver Crystal in a duel against her enemy from the Dark Kingdom.

It was a high stake battle, a battle to their death. Queen Beryl had given an order to her lead general that he was not to return without successfully claiming a life of a senshi or obtaining the Silver Crystal. On the other hand, the Venusian guardian was standing at the last line of defense, in front of the vault that stored the ultimate mystic artifact.

Losing was not an option for either side. Tonight, only one of them could stay alive and claim victory.

He was the leader and the strongest of the Shittenou and she was the leader of the Senshi with comparable power, but she struggled to prevail over him. It wasn't clear whether she couldn't or she didn't want to, perhaps only Venus knew herself. One thing the guardian was clear of was that if she fell before him, the entire Moon Palace or even the Kingdom would be in the hands of the atrocious Dark Kingdom. There was no way she could let her personal interest getting in the way of her responsibilities as a senshi and the Kingdom she was destined to protect.

An opportunity came. Venus swiftly lunged forward and thrust the Sword into Kunzite's chest. The eyes of both the guardian and the lead general of the Dark Kingdom grew wide instantly as the holy weapon pierced into his body.

The battle was over and the outcome was already decided. No enemy had ever been able to overcome the sacred power of the Sword. It would soon be Venus's victory, but the senshi had no reason to celebrate or rejoice. Her heart was instead filled with guilt knowing that she had wounded the love of her life and was about to lose him forever. She felt a sharp pain in her chest, as if the weapon had shoved into her as well.

Kunzite fell onto the ground and let out painful screams as the Holy Sword started destroying the dark power within him. Since his mind and body were taken over and claimed by the Dark Kingdom, the Sword was going to obliterate his entire soul and there was no chance for him to survive and restore to his original state. He began to fade away slowly.

"No Kunzite, no!" Venus yelled. She knelt down next to him and reached out with her arms, trying to hold onto anything there was left of him. "Please don't leave me!"

Before Kunzite's last breath, his mind was purified again and he regained his memory.

"Venus…" he said weakly, "I'm sorry for everything."

"Don't be," Venus said dolefully. "It wasn't your fault, Kunzite."

With his last strength, Kunzite reached for the hand of the Venusian guardian.

"Venus-" he called her in a frail voice, struggling to even utter her name.

Venus held him closer to herself, her face rubbing against his. "Tell me."

"If we can meet each other in our next life," he suggested. His voice was barely audible at this point. "Will you want to be with me again?"

"Yes, Kunzite, I promise." Venus caressed his handsome yet pale face. "Fate will bring us together again."

He let out a heavy exhale and the corners of his lips curled upward.

"I love you," she whispered next to his ear. Her voice was breaking.

The white-haired general never responded to her.

"Kunzite! Kunzite!" Venus cried and begged, but nothing could bring him back to life. The only thing she could do was holding onto his lifeless body until he completely vanished.

It was Venus's victory, but also her defeat. She had no other choice and couldn't wish for any outcome other than this. She picked up the mystic Sword that she used to kill her lover and wept.

The grief of losing Kunzite was too much for Venus to bear and she desperately wanted to join him, but unfortunately it wasn't even an option. Her fate as a senshi was to fight until her last breath for her kingdom.

At last, Venus stood up, wiped away the last tear on her face, and carried on with the guilt and the painful scar in her heart until the end of Silver Millennium…

* * *

 **19xx, Tokyo**

"Kunzite! Please don't leave me! Kunzite!"

Aino Minako woke up to the same dream for the umpteenth time. She had no idea why the scene would reoccur so many times in her sleep. What was more unexplainable was that she found tears rolling down her cheeks and had the same ache in her chest like Venus when she shoved the Holy Sword into Kunzite's chest.

Who was Guardian Venus? Who was Kunzite? Why were the scenes so vivid? Why would she actually feel the same pain waking up?

She also had recollections of multiple dreams where she met and fell in love with Kunzite as Guardian Venus.

It was just a dream, Minako told herself. Stop thinking and feeding your mind with it and it will eventually go away. She reminded herself over and over that she was Minako. Whatever the story was between Venus and Kunzite, it had nothing to do with her.

She got up and went to school just like any other day.

"I've said it many times and I'll say it again-" Minako said, frustrated. "You need to do something before it's too late!"

"Maybe it's just not meant to be-" Her classmate who was looking for relationship advice from Minako said.

"Well," Minako said reluctantly, crossing her arms. "Don't come to me crying when you find out that she is seeing someone after Valentine's Day!"

The school bell rang and the blonde realized that she had to go.

"Mina! You're late!" Her volleyball teammate said, waving to Minako as she rushed into the locker room.

"Sorry!" She apologized, hurrying over to her locker.

"Were you busy being a matchmaker again?"

"Of course!" Minako said giggling, while changing into her volleyball team uniform. "It's almost Valentine's Day and it's the busiest time of the year!"

"You must have a date on that day, right?"

"Actually no," The blonde said matter-of-factly.

"How is that possible?" Her teammate was surprised.

"Well, maybe I'm just too busy matching everyone that I don't have the time to meet someone myself." Minako said with a lighthearted wink.

Her teammate laughed. "Okay Venus, let's go before the coach yells at us."

Minako suddenly grew quiet.

"Mina?"

"Come on, hurry!"

"Mina - are you okay?"

The blonde finally regained her focus.

"What did you call me again?" The blonde girl asked as she joined her teammates at the court and began her warm up exercises.

"Venus?"

"Yes, why?"

"Isn't it obvious? You're the goddess of love in school! Everyone knows that." The teammate said laughing.

Venus…Minako whispered that name. Unknowingly she started thinking about that dream she had been having repeatedly and reminiscing about it.

* * *

 **February 14, 19xx**

Ironically, Valentine's Day was not Minako's favorite day of the year. Although she was happy to be a matchmaker and had the uncanny ability to connect lovers and create successful relationships, she seemed to have trouble finding love for herself. She had confessed her feelings to a few people whom she thought she had connections with, only to find that her love was unrequited. Eventually she had given up her hope, convincing herself that perhaps the destined responsibility of the "goddess of love" was to match everyone else but to fall in love herself.

The blonde decided to go watch a movie by herself. She knew there'd be a lot of couples at the theatre so she had purposely picked an action movie. She was pretty sure that not many would watch this type of movie on a romantic day.

Unfortunately, she was wrong. Most seats were occupied by couples, and the only empty seat was the one next to her.

"This is great," Minako thought rolling her eyes. "Everyone must think that my date ditched me on Valentine's Day."

The movie was about to start.

"Excuse me," a man who stood next to Minako said. "Would you mind if I take the seat next to you?"

"Sure," Minako replied quickly. She got up and stepped aside. As she stood up, she took a quick glance at him.

Her eyes grew wide instantly. She could not believe what she saw and a gasp almost escaped from her mouth. He looked exactly like the man in her dreams - tall and well-built, with long and sleek white hair.

Even though it was dark at the auditorium, Minako could still recognize that strikingly handsome face. What also caught her attention were the cufflinks on his dress shirt that were shiny pinkish-purple stones which resembled the kunzite gemstone.

Her eyes did not move away from him as he moved in and sat down.

Needless to say Minako did not pay attention to the movie. She couldn't even if she wanted to.

She was affected by the sight of the man who looked nothing less than Kunzite in her dreams. During the entire movie, she couldn't help but tilt her face slightly towards him and take peeks at him with the corners of her eyes . A few times he noticed she was looking over and returned a warm smile to her.

Whether the story in her dreams actually happened, and whether her past life was Venus or not, Minako felt her heart pounding after seeing him and she could not come up with any explanation for it.

After the movie ended, Minako was still immersed in her thoughts about Venus's story and the promise the senshi made to Kunzite at their final battle. She was getting convinced that he was the reincarnated Kunzite who came to this world to meet Venus…

"Excuse me," the man politely said, causing the blonde to snap of her reverie. She was surprised to realize that everyone had gotten up and left except for her and the man next to her.

"I'm sorry," she said, rising from the seat.

"No worries," the long white-haired man assured.

Minako stood at the aisle as she watched him heading for the exit. How could he look and sound just like Kunzite? Why would she meet him on this day? Was this just a coincidence, or something else?

Before Minako could mull over the possibilities, she realized that he was about to disappear from her sight.

She wanted to run up to him, but he turned around instead.

"Happy Valentine's Day," he said smiling.

"Same to you." Minako nodded and returned a smile to him.

She blushed seeing that smile. It was far too familiar; it was the one Venus saw when the two first met at Moon Palace. Venus had tried hard pretending she wasn't affected by Kunzite's appearance but every time she looked at him, he would notice and smile back at her. It was the same, slight curl of the lips that softened the solemn look on his face and warmed her heart.

Was he really Kunzite?

 _If we can meet each other in our next life, will you want to be with me again?"_

As the white haired man continued his way towards the exit, Minako suddenly yelled.

"Yes, Kunzite!"

Her words made him halt his footsteps. He seemed surprised by what he had heard and turned around to her again and looked at her with an amused expression.

Suddenly snapping back into reality, Minako colored in embarrassment and her body flushed. She could not believe that she had taken the story in her dreams so seriously and acted as if it actually happened. Her heart raced, from seeing his handsome face and feeling nervous of what he had to say.

He snorted and smiled.

"I'm sorry," he said curiously, "have we met before?"

His response sank Minako's heart and the little hope died within her.

After all, he didn't remember. Minako thought sadly. But what else did she expect him to say? Venus, I've waited thousands of years to meet you again? He was probably just someone who looked like Kunzite by coincidence, and Venus had it wrong - their fate ended in Silver Millennium and they were never meant to be reunited.

Minako couldn't help but felt a rush of tears starting to form in her eyes. She lowered her lashes but resisted the urge to blink. She didn't want to him to see tears rolling down her cheeks.

The blonde heaved a deep sigh to alleviate her heavy heart. She swallowed hard to clear the lump in her throat before she spoke again.

"I guess not," she tried her best to sound casual.

She then ran out before he had a chance to see how disheartened she was. She ran as fast as she could and never looked back.

* * *

Minako stopped when she was finally out of breath from running. While panting heavily, she turned around just to make sure he did not happen to follow her. Then she could not hold back her emotions anymore. Tears rolled down from her eyes uncontrollably. She turned facing the storefront windows, hoping no one would see how miserable she was.

The blonde did not know why she was so heartbroken upon hearing his response. After all, who were Venus and Kunzite anyway? Did they even exist?

And why was she, Aino Minako, so affected by his presence? Did she unknowingly project herself as Venus and fall in love with Kunzite?

Without having an answer, she stood on a quiet street and continue to let out her emotions. Her cry began to worsen and she had to cover her mouth in order to shield away the sound of her sobs.

Suddenly, Minako jumped feeling a hand placed on her shoulder.

"Hey," a familiar voice said gently. It was the voice she heard just moments ago. She looked over at the hand and saw the same kunzite cufflinks on his dress shirt.

She turned around slowly, looking up at the same face that had appeared countless times in her dreams.

"I am terribly sorry," he said, lowering his head to meet the blonde's eyes. "I didn't mean to upset you, especially not on this day."

Minako blushed in embarrassment again. She wished he wouldn't see what a mess she looked like right now, but somehow his presence made her feel incredibly comforting.

"No, it's okay," she tried to speak between her shuddering sobs, clumsily trying to wipe the tears off her face with her hands. "I-it's just-"

He took out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed over to her.

"Thank you..." Minako said, sniffling. "Oh I'm such a mess right now." She lowered her head and turned her face slightly away from him. It took a few minutes but she finally managed to calm herself down. During this time he waited next to her patiently.

"S-Sorry." Minako looked down at the handkerchief that was soaked with her own tears and a bit of makeup.

"Don't worry about it, really. The guilt is all mine - I feel bad for making you so disheartened."

She shook her head, wanting to explain but couldn't find the right words. Before she even tried, he proposed something that she would have never expected for.

"Can I make it up to you?" He asked. "Would you like to grab a bite together, if you don't have any other plans?"

Minako probably would have said yes to a guy who could make her blush or cause her heart to pound, but this time she forced herself to pause and reassess instead. She fought the urge to dwell in her dreams and believe that she had anything to do with it. She convinced herself that she was not the reborn Venus and the man in front of her was not the reincarnated Kunzite. He was just a stranger she met, and happened to look like the man in her dreams by coincidence.

"I can't," Minako replied, shaking her head. "I don't even know you."

"My name is Kun Saitou," he said with a genuine smile, "or I should use Saitou Kun since I'm in Japan."

"Kun…Saitou?" Minako repeated his name.

"Yes, that's what I thought you called me at the theatre. I was surprised that you knew my name."

His name and his response immediately got Minako to reconsider the validity of her dreams. It couldn't be a coincidence, or could it?

"May I have the honor to know your name?"

"My name is Aino Minako," she answered.

"What a beautiful name," he said. "It's my pleasure to meet you Minako-san."

"Likewise, Kun-san." Colors splashed across her cheeks as he smiled at her.

"Minako-san, I'm sorry for ruining your night," he said sincerely. "I hope you'll give me a chance to make it up to you and get to know you more. Maybe we can meet up again sometime?"

Minako was shocked by everything she had heard so far, but a smile managed to appear on her face.

Perhaps Kun Saitou wasn't Kunzite and she wasn't Venus from Silver Millennium, or maybe she was Venus and he was Kunzite but just didn't remember a thing from his past life. Either way, there was only one explanation Minako had for meeting him today.

It was fate.

 _Fate will bring us together again._

* * *

 ** _Thanks for reading!_**


End file.
